1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a hydrogen sensor using Pd nano-wires, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a micro-scale and high sensitive hydrogen sensor using Pd nano-wires, which are prepared by sputtering.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To date, in order to solve environmental pollution such as global warming attributable to the use of fossil fuel and energy shortage attributable to the exhaustion of fossil fuel, a number of alternative energy resources are under the development. As one of the main solutions, research on hydrogen energy is being regarded more important.
Hydrogen energy can advantageously overcome both of the above-mentioned problems. As another merit, hydrogen energy can overcome the finiteness of fossil fuel since it can be produced from and recycled to infinite water. Furthermore, the use of hydrogen does not produce pollutants except for a faint amount of NOx. Therefore, in order to overcome the problems such as energy shortage and environmental pollution that the human beings confront, the development of hydrogen energy is being accelerated. Accordingly, the use of hydrogen energy is expected to spread to various fields in addition to the present limited fields, which are generally treated by experts.
However, on considerations that hydrogen is highly explosive, especially, in the case of the leakage, the use of hydrogen as an energy source in various fields including hydrogen fuel cell vehicles can be hardly realized unless hydrogen is carefully and stably managed. Therefore, together with the development of hydrogen energy, it is essential to develop a hydrogen gas sensor capable of detecting hydrogen leakage as early as possible.
To the present, various hydrogen sensors have been developed. Examples of these sensors may include a sensor using catalytic combustion or a heat wire, a sensor using a SiO2 or AlN metal oxide (nitride) semiconductor, and a sensor using a Schottky barrier diode having two poles, in which SiC, GaN or the like is applied to bulk Pd or Pt. However, these hydrogen sensors have drawbacks such as a big size, a complex structure and a high cost. Furthermore, since these hydrogen sensors operate at a high temperature of 300° C. or more, they have drawbacks such as high power consumption and low selectivity for hydrogen.
Accordingly, researches on materials and structures of hydrogen sensors capable of optimizing performance are being carried out. Representative examples may include the application of nano-technology to a sensor device and the use of a nano-material as a sensor material. The nano-material has a nano-scale particle size (from several nanometers to tens of nanometers), and thus its physical properties are maximized on the surface of the particle. Hence, the nano-material can be advantageously used as a catalyst based on surface reaction or a detecting material for a sensor. Furthermore, when a sensor is developed using the nano-material, the sensor is expected to have various merits such as micro size, ultra high sensitivity and operability in an ultra low power mode. Accordingly, studies on such sensors are being actively carried out these days.